Dazaifu

On Saturday Anthony and I made our way over to Dazaifu. It is a town near a very large and very popular shrine, named Dazaifu. It took about 45 minutes from Tenjin station in the middle of Fukuoka to get there, with one transfer along the way. The shrine is for learning and it was packed! We went around time time of College and High school entrance exams, so many people might have been praying for good luck on their tests. As you walk up to the main temple there are a lot of little shops along the side of the street selling omiyage (souvenirs), and food. To me, it had a bit of a Leavenworth feel to it.

The is the little shopping street.
The crowd is rushing up behind us,
so it looks pretty clear hehe.

We walked around the plum blossoms first before heading to the main shrine. The plum blossoms were just starting to bloom so the branches were spotted with little white buds waiting to open into the warm sun.

This is the Tobe Ume. A famous plum blossom
tree in the middle of the large shrine.

The shrine was full of people and easy to get lost in the crowd. Luckly for me I am easy to spot in a crowd of black hair. Once we tossed the five yen coin into the little shine box and prayed for wisdom we headed off to look around the area. There was a multitude of other little shrines past the main one which were almost diviod of people.

I enjoyed the little shrines better then the large more "comertial" shrine. I just felt like they had more personality then the large ones which everyone flocked to. One in particular that I liked was up on top of a hill over looking Dazaifu. It was peaceful and we only saw a few other people.

This is the walk up.

This is a the little shrine.

This is the walk down.

Once we had explored the area and visited the shrines we headed back to Hakata station where we hopped on a bus heading back to Miyazaki. The whole trip was a great experience and I love traveling and seeing different sides of Japan. From the laid back country side life of Miyazaki to the bustling cities of Fukuoka and Osaka. They each have their charm, but I always enjoy returning to Miyazaki after a busy weekend of traveling.